Mr. John Ragsdale, of Richmond, in Surrey, who was the intimate friend
of Collins, states that some of his Odes were written while on a visit
at his, Mr. Ragsdale’s house. The poet, however, had such a poor
opinion of his own productions, that after showing them to Mr. Ragsdale,
he would snatch them from him, and throw them into the fire; and in this
way, it is believed, many of Collins’s finest pieces were destroyed.
Such of his Odes as were published, on his own account in 1746, were not
popular; and, disappointed at the slowness of the sale, the poet burnt
the remaining copies with his own hands.